Words that are a foot-and-a-half long?

While reading a bit of commentary from north of the border, I came across a word, a big word unknown to me, sesquipedalian.

So I had to look it up, and Douglas Harper and his Online Etymology Dictionary don’t disappoint.

1610s, “person or thing a foot and a half long,” from Latin sesquipedalia “a foot-and-a-half long,” from sesqui- “half as much again” (see sesqui-) + stem of pes “foot” (from PIE root *ped- “foot”). As an adjective 1650s. Meaning “sesquipedalian word” (1830) is from Latin sesquipedalia verba “words a foot-and-a-half long,” in Horace’s “Ars Poetica” (97), nicely illustrating the thing he is criticizing.

Words that are a foot-and-a-half long? That certainly describes Conrad Black. But I do like him and his writing. His insights are a good perspective of whatever he’s commenting about.

Black’s trial and imprisonment is a case of the power of vindictive bureaucrats using the State to pursue their perverted senses of justice. Far too many people, from Martha Stewart to thousands of black men, have been wrongly caught up in the corrupt, highly profitable justice system.

There’s a lot of money in prisons. And we must demand reform! It’s time to reduce the prison population.

ajh

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I’m an Arschloch, a big Arschloch! Anyone have answers as to why?

People have been tweeting at me in German, in Serbian, in Russian. And I haven’t had such a good time on Twitter in awhile. I’ve been using Google to help me translate.

Also gut, @aaronjhill. Ich habe Deine Hauptseite gelesen. Du bist zwar gut gebildet, aber schließlich bist Du ein großes Arschloch. Warum? 🤔

— 🌍 chenx064 🌏 (@chenx064) October 18, 2017

“So I’ve read your main page. You are well educated, but in the end you are a big asshole. Why?”

Срећан сам да смијеш се с мном. Морао бих ли звати тебе "шупак" на српском такође? 😛😜😝

— 🌍 chenx064 🌏 (@chenx064) October 18, 2017

“I’m happy to laugh with you. Should I call you asshole in Serbian too?”

@aaronjhill Родина-Мать Россия зовёт! Иди домой! 🇷🇺

— Sharon Ortiz (@SharonAOrtiz) October 18, 2017

“Motherland Russia is calling! Go home!”

ajh

Goodbye, Cousin

THERE ARE LOTS
of us, no doubt. Cousins, that is. As you go back in time, the fewer the people and therefore the increased likelihood that any two people today share a common ancestor.

Such is the case with a roguish character who sailed for America on the Mayflower as an indentured servant, Edward Doty. I am a descendant, thanks to my mother.

So was Dorothy Anne “D.A.” Murphy Van Nest of Scottsdale, Arizona. She died in September at the age of 95, and I learned about her connection to Doty and me from her obituary.

ajh

Indian Lake, Ohio

The Hill family has lived in this area of western Ohio around Indian Lake since the early 19th century, 1810 to be precise. Cousins still live there.

So learning that HGTV will be focusing on the lake is good news for me because I am always striving to know more about the place.

It’s considered a summer playground and only 75 miles northwest of the metropolis of Columbus.

Indian Lake has islands? Yes — 44 of them. “There’s a whole string of islands in the middle of the lake.”

I once found a T-shirt for Russells Point, a small town on the lake’s south shore, in a thrift store in Kirkland, Washington.

Gonna have to make my way there one of these days.

ajh

My thinking on Congress & career politicians hasn’t changed much in 17 years.

“You shouldn’t have to spend 20 years in political office before you get elected to Congress. It’s supposed to be a citizen legislature, not a professional government. It’s time to reevaluate the entire system.”

That’s what I told a reporter from a newspaper in Albany. It was the year 2000, and I had decided to throw my hat into the ring in a campaign for a seat in Congress, representating the residents of the 5th Congressional District in northwest Oregon.

During the primary campaign I made the rounds of the media. When a wealthy businessman joined at the last minute, I came under intense pressure to drop out. That was the day I realized how corrupt and cronyistic the party system is.

It took a few more years before I left the Republican Party. But, as is clear with the Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, Republicans often campaign as limited government conservatives and then govern as big government liberals.

Sadly, the fight isn’t over. It has barely even started. We still need, desperately so, to gut Congress and the bureaucracy. Thankfully, with the election of Trump, we have a good shot at retaking our government.

ajh

Next year is a big centenary. It’s the 100th year of America getting dragged into the First World War.

Sure, technically the war started in 1917. But gearing up for war took time, and though American soldiers arrived on the Western Front by June, combat didn’t start in earnest for the Americans until 1918. A series of silver coins is being released in commemoration.

ajh

This is just bizarro. It’s not okay to say OK with your hand?!

A-OK isn’t OK?

The ACLU is giving us speech codes, what’s acceptable to do and say, and what’s not?! This is a betrayal of everything they claim to represent!

ajh

Five thousand! I now have 5,000 followers on the Twitter.

No doubt some are bots, but most are real, live people. I know. I’ve checked, trying to weed out the crap. It’s been slow & steady progress for weeks to get there. I’ve been using an app called Chumder. Except I don’t actually use the app, I use the app through their website.

ajh

What was he doing in South America? In Montevideo, Uruguay?

AND WHERE IS YOUR WIFE?

My great grandmother’s younger brother, Leslie Warren Darling, was engaged to a girl named Ruth June Amos. But his death during the First World War changed their plans.

Ruth married another World War I veteran, William Donald Jordan, on August 12, 1919 in Red Oak, Montgomery County, Iowa.

There is a nine year gap in records. I can’f find any records for either of them until January 17, 1928, when William arrived in New York City after taking a ship, the SS American Legion, from Montevideo, Uruguay.

He had already apparently been living in New York City for some time, a residence at 41 Broad Street in the heart of Wall Street.

What he was doing in South America isn’t known, nor what happened to Ruth. He remarried in May of 1928.

Did he divorce Ruth or had she died? Did she die during a misadventure in South America? Or is there something more sinister at work here? Murder?

People don’t just disappear. I intend on getting to the bottom of this.

ajh

One of the sailors killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor has finally been buried, at Arlington.

Walter Rogers was his name. He was from South Dakota and stationed on the USS Oklahoma.

“He was just a typical teenager. He loved cars and all things mechanical. It was during the Depression, and no one had any money. We were a very poor family, but he was an ambitious teenager. And he would scrounge around for parts for a car. And he finally was able to accumulate enough parts to make a functioning automobile.”

Scientists used mitochondrial DNA and dental analysis to identify Rogers’ remains.

ajh